Trucks, SUVs drive Canadian sales up

Ford says it posted a 15 per cent increase to 28,923 vehicles sold in Canada for July compared with 25,188 a year ago.

Overall sales of Ford trucks increased by 26.2 per cent to 23,205 last month compared with 18,392 in July 2013. However, Ford’s cars didn’t fare as well. Sales slumped by 15.9 per cent, down 5,718 from 6,796 in July 2013.

Chrysler trailed Ford with a seven per cent gain to total 28,007 cars and trucks sold in July. That compared with 26,209 a year ago.

Truck sales were up 11.8 per cent compared with a year ago, boosted by Jeep sales which gained 58 per cent.

Overall Chrysler’s truck sales totalled 24,700, up from 22,095 last year. Chrysler car sales fell 19.6 per cent to 3,307 from 4,114 in July 2013.

Last month’s sales were also strong for Japanese automaker Nissan which reported its truck sales grew by 51.9 per cent, totalling 4,897 trucks sold versus 3,223 trucks in July 2013.

Overall, Nissan and its Infiniti luxury division sold 11,434 vehicles up from 8,176 vehicles in July 2013.